


Fizzing Whizbees & Butterbeer

by mischiefmanager



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-01 13:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10190624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischiefmanager/pseuds/mischiefmanager
Summary: Albus stumbles upon a creative way to make the first move with Scorpius.Inspired by what happens when you drop Mentos into Diet Coke!





	1. Take a Sip

Albus tried really hard not to slam the door behind him as he exited detention, cursing whatever terrible force that possessed him to take Divination in the first place. He wasn't even good at the things his father excelled at. What had made him think Divination would be any better?

He made his way quickly down the staircases, thinking only of the nice, cool Slytherin common room and Scorpius waiting for him on their couch in the corner. Scorpius was probably using the Albus-free time to read—Albus could easily imagine him curled up in his stocking feet with a big heavy volume in his lap, one hand running absently through his hair and the other thumbing the edges of the worn pages. It was one of Albus's favourite versions of Scorpius, though at this point it probably wasn't worth differentiating between the various versions and would be easier just to admit to himself that he was hopelessly besotted and leave it at that.

Albus pulled aside a tapestry near the entrance to the Gryffindor common room to reach a shortcut and came face to face with Fred and Hugo Weasley bending over a perfectly innocuous-looking bottle of Butterbeer. Knowing Fred though, some form of mischief was certainly afoot. 

Fred and Hugo jumped away from the bottle at the sight of the intruder, and then seemed to relax upon realizing that that it was just him. 

"Albus," Fred smirked, his expression a mirror of his father's face when testing a new invention, "what a surprise! May I ask what you're doing in these parts of the castle this fine evening?" 

Albus really couldn't have been in less of a mood to chum around with his cousins, but couldn't think of a way to tell them to shove off that wouldn't make it back to his parents. He folded his arms across his chest.

"Just got out of detention.” Albus debated internally for a moment before sighing heavily. “Alright, I'll take the bait, what are you up to?"

"So very glad you asked," Fred told him, reaching out and yanking him by the arm into a position next to Hugo, who crept up to the bottle. Upon closer inspection, Albus noticed that Fred was holding a box of Fizzing Whizbees. 

"We're about to try something," Hugo told Albus excitedly. 

_Of course you are, dunderhead._ Left to his own devices, Hugo was a perfectly reasonable human being. In the company of his cousin Fred, however, he became a tiny minion in the service of Fred's evil genius.

"Is this going to land me in another detention?" Albus asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. It wasn't that he really _cared_ , just that detention cut into the time he normally spent communing with the back of Scorpius's head and two detentions in one week would certainly result in _concerned letters_ from his parents.  

"Certainly not!" said Fred, sounding incredibly affronted for a boy who had nearly set a record for most detentions earned in a term—a record surpassed only by his father and the uncle after whom he was named. 

"This is a small-scale version," Hugo reassured him, "Just a test run."

Small scale version of what? Albus decided he didn't want to know. 

"Alright," Albus nodded, "Let's see it then. But if I wake up in the hospital wing, then I was an innocent passer-by. Got it?" 

"Agreed," said Fred, pulling two Whizbees out of his box and dropping them carefully into the open mouth of the bottle. 

For a split second, nothing happened. Albus was watching so closely that he didn't notice Fred and Hugo stepping back, and by the time he realized that he ought to follow their lead, he was hit in the face with a spray of Butterbeer. 

The bottle was absolutely erupting. Butterbeer was shooting into the air like lava from a volcano, foaming out the sides and forming an impressive puddle on the floor at Albus's feet. He scrambled back to avoid getting the bottom of his shoes sticky and wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes as the bottle rose to hover half a foot above the floor.

"Success!" Hugo whisper-shouted, pumping a fist into the air.  

"Excellent!" said Fred, rubbing his hands together in delight, "This is going to work perfectly."

Albus spluttered, which seemed to serve to remind Fred that he was present. 

"Oh sorry mate, did you get caught in the stream?" he asked, which seemed to Albus, who was standing there with Butterbeer dripping from his hair, to be a rather stupid question. 

Fred waved his wand carelessly at the mess and then at Albus, vanishing the Butterbeer. Hugo snatched the empty bottle and out of the air and clutched it to his chest as though it were a priceless treasure, the weirdo. 

Albus ran a hand through his hair, which was no longer wet, but noticeably sticky. He felt his temper flaring—why they had insisted on involving him in their idiotic, pointless prank...

"Goodnight," Albus forced through his teeth, before he lost it completely and decided to hex them, rushing past them down the staircase toward the only place he wanted to be now—his dormitory. 

He meant to make straight for the bathroom after entering the common room, but Scorpius must have been watching the door because he waved wildly with both arms flapping in the air upon catching Albus's eye. Albus dropped his bag and sank into the couch cushion next to Scorpius. 

"Hi!" Scorpius greeted him with enthusiasm, as though they hadn't seen one another in days as opposed to just since dinner. "How was detention?" 

"It was detention, Scorpius," Albus told him incredulously, "How exciting could it possibly be?" 

"Well, I don't know!" said Scorpius, practically bouncing on his knees where he sat, "Whenever you're away from me I imagine you're doing something interesting and I'll get to hear all about it when you get back." 

Albus was about to reply when Scorpius suddenly launched himself forward so that they were practically nose to nose, then he took a deep whiff.  

"Why, _exactly_ ," he said, "do you smell like Butterbeer?"

A perfectly reasonable question, but Albus was so distracted by having Scorpius all up in his personal space—close enough to kiss him by barely leaning in—that he just gulped like a fish and hoped that Scorpius wouldn't wait for an answer. He wasn't disappointed. Scorpius lifted his hand to run his fingers through Albus's hair.  

"And your hair is all sticky! Did you take a bath in Butterbeer? Why wasn't I invited?" 

Albus fought the desperate urge to close his eyes and lean into Scorpius's touch. Scorpius took another sniff. Albus was about to tell him about his run-in with Fred and Hugo when Scorpius let out a satisfied sort of hum that Albus tried really hard to ignore because it made his skin erupt in goose pimples. Merlin, he had it bad. 

"Did I ever tell you," Scorpius whispered, looking him right in the eye and not backing up even an inch, "that when they showed us Amortentia in Potions at the start of term, one of the things I smelled in there was Butterbeer?" 

“No,” Albus choked out, head spinning, “you didn’t mention.”

“And Fizzing Whizbees,” Scorpius continued, apparently oblivious to Albus’s plight, “which I thought was a bit strange because my favourite sweets are Pepper Imps. So it was Butterbeer, Fizzing Whizbees and...and some...other things,” he finished falteringly. 

Had they been alone, Albus almost certainly would not have been able to resist the mad desire to lean forward and kiss him. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the common room was full of people who would definitely notice if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy's sons started a mad impromptu snogging session in public. But an idea struck him in that moment, and it seemed like it might just possibly be a good one. One of Albus's better ideas. It would require some planning though—planning _alone_ , away from Scorpius. 

Albus's whole body fought him as he leaned back away from Scorpius. 

"No you didn’t, in fact,” Albus repeated. “I was going to take a bath, especially now that I'm apparently sticky and smell of Butterbeer—no idea how that happened, by the way. Goodnight!" 

Scorpius looked a little confused and maybe even a bit disappointed as Albus stood up and made his way toward the dormitories. Maybe it was just Scorpius's proximity driving him to madness, but he felt as though they were reaching a breaking point and he had to do _something_. 


	2. Bottoms Up!

Albus woke the following Saturday feeling like a hive of pixies had taken up residence in his stomach, zooming around and making him queasy. He fleetingly considered feigning illness and hiding in bed all day. Then he reminded himself that he had _two_ Gryffindor parents and that there had to be a least a bit of bravery hiding somewhere in his genes, and then and there he resolved to find it and dig it out.

Scorpius, amid his usual stream of chatter, remarked during breakfast that Albus had walked up to the Great Hall as though he expected to face the gallows upon his arrival, and Albus barely had it in him to object as he picked at his bacon.

They spent most of the morning in the library, where Scorpius revised and Albus watched Scorpius revise whilst holding an open textbook and trying not to be sick from nerves.

By the time lunch rolled around, Scorpius had stopped talking about other things to ask Albus if he was alright no fewer than five separate times. He looked less convinced with every “I’m fine,” so much so that Albus finally admitted to himself that Scorpius would most likely force the issue the next time he had to ask. He took a deep quiet breath, noticed that he was sweating profusely out of nerves, and decided that they ought to get out of the castle before Scorpius noticed.

“Scorpius?” he said after a period of silence. It came out much closer to a squeak than Albus would’ve liked.

“Hmm?” 

“How would you feel about...about maybe taking a stroll by the lake?”

Scorpius put down his book.

“Sure! Lovely day out, why not?” Scorpius set his book down and headed out of the castle and into the sunlight, his gangly legs loping along down the hill towards the lake. Albus hurried along after him, looking anywhere but at Scorpius. He reminded himself of all the things he’d already gone through to to get to this point—bribing James with all his saved up pocket money to sneak into the village and buy him what he needed, evading James’s annoying questions for the rest of the week, hiding his supplies from Scorpius... 

They reached the side of the lake, far enough away from everyone else that it was unlikely they’d be watched, and Scorpius turned and looked at him expectantly. Albus scrambled for something to say.

“Er...You were right. It... It is a nice day out.” Feeble. Utterly feeble.

“Lovely,” Scorpius agreed, nodding. “Listen Albus, I... I don’t want to pry—I mean, I know you need to do your brooding and or sulking thing from time to time—but is there something you want to talk about?” 

If the universe was merciful, the Giant Squid would reach out to the banks and snatch Albus up, dragging him down into the watery depths of the Black Lake. Words were absolutely failing him—he’d been intending to say something to Scorpius but he found that there was apparently some kind of small animal attempting to crawl up his throat and rendering him incapable of speech. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle of Butterbeer he’d been hauling around since breakfast. He thrust it into Scorpius’s hand.

“I... I wanted to try something. Could you maybe take a big sip and just not swallow for a moment?” he managed.

Scorpius’s reaction was a stark reminder that this was not even close to the weirdest thing Albus had ever asked him to do. He raised his eyebrows mildly, popped the top off the Butterbeer and sucked some up into his mouth, cheeks inflating like a puffskein, eyes still locked with Albus’s.

Before he could second guess himself any further, Albus grabbed the two Fizzing Whizbees he’d carried in the other pocket and popped them into his mouth. He closed his eyes, raised himself up slightly on his toes and touched his lips to Scorpius’s, bracing himself for...he didn’t know. A slap maybe? Instead, Scorpius dropped the bottle and opened his mouth slightly in surprise and Albus felt a rush of Butterbeer pass his teeth into his mouth. He pushed one of the Fizzing Whizbees into Scorpius’s past Scorpius’s lips with his tongue. 

Albus’s fear evaporated in the face of the stark reality that it was done—he couldn’t take it back. He had kissed Scorpius and they were going to have to move forward from that, for better or worse.

An explosion of Butterbeer foam spilled past both their lips and dripped down Albus’s chin. He barely had time to wonder to himself why he ever thought he could do something like this before he felt the curve of Scorpius’s smile and the press of Scorpius’s lips more firmly against his. As though Albus’s happiness was manifesting itself physically, he felt his toes grazing the grass as he was levitated several inches above the ground.

Once they were back on the bank, Scorpius pulled back to cough and splutter into his hands. Albus wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand, holding his breath and nearly overflowing with hope. Scorpius looked up at him with his eyes sparkling.

“That was brilliant!” he gasped, “Absolutely brilliant! Where did you even get that idea? How did you make it happen?”

“I—"

“Wait,” Scorpius interrupted, “I don’t care.” 

And then he surged forward and kissed Albus deeply, pulling him close, nuzzling their noses together and giggling against Albus’s lips. Glorious relief flooded through his body as he allowed his shoulders to sag into Scorpius and he wrapped his arms around his waist—it was hard to believe that his plan had worked so perfectly, but the evidence was literally right in his face.

“Wow,” Scorpius whispered as he pulled back, positively glowing. 

“Yeah,” Albus agreed hoarsely. “Wow.”

A week later when Fred and Hugo showered the entire Great Hall in foaming Butterbeer during dinner, Albus just smiled and squeezed Scorpius’s hand under the table.

**Author's Note:**

> Jillian_Bowes deserves a thousand galleons and a niffler for giving me the idea for this story.


End file.
